Stephen Tyrone Williams
Dr. Hess Greene
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5.29/10
- Da Sweet Blood of Jesus received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 5.29/10.
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Feb 14, 2015 · “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus” is Spike Lee‘s first crowdfunded feature and his second remake in a row, following “Oldboy” (a film I liked better than most critics), but as you might expect, given the defiantly idiosyncratic nature of this director, it’s not content to be a rehash.
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Da Sweet Blood of Jesus has no shortage of style, but it isn't enough to make this horror-tinged Spike Lee joint one of his best -- or worth recommending. Read Critics Reviews
- (42)
- Stephen Tyrone Williams
- Spike Lee
- Mystery & Thriller, Comedy, Drama
Feb 12, 2015 · “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus,” Spike Lee’s new film, is a grisly and ghoulish vampire story. It is also an evident labor of love.
- Spike Lee
- A.O. Scott
- 123 min
- Spike Lee's new joint bites (in a good way).
- Verdict
By Matt Patches
Updated: Nov 24, 2018 6:54 pm
Posted: Jun 25, 2014 7:33 pm
The fate of Spike Lee's latest joint rested on the strength of his legacy. In August 2013, the filmmaker asked fans of to contribute to a $1.25 million Kickstarter campaign for a movie described as a “funny, sexy and bloody love story.” Lee exceeded his goal, raising $1.4 million to make whatever his heart desired — it just had to be verifiably him. What could have setup for indulgence amounts to Lee's fiercest film in a decade; Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is bloodthirsty, a sultry and strange portrait of addiction roaring with a wicked sense of humor. Messy and headstrong, Lee piles on ideas without sussing out the film's identity, but it's all provocative. The director said he needed Kickstarter to make this movie outside the business-first industry. He wasn't kidding.
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus draws heavily from Bill Gunn's 1973 Blaxploitation horror film Ganja & Hess, a smoldering, shadowy response to '72's Blacula. Lee brings Gunn's film to the modern age with bright whites, hyper-crisp photography, and a biting sense of humor. The director's compositions are often as startling and engrossing as the character drama; If we're going to fall down a rabbit hole, Lee wants the plummet to mesmerize us. Stephen Tyrone Williams in Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.Dr. Hess Greene (Stephen Tyrone Williams) is a well-rounded elite: He's an Akan scholar, he's an art-lover, he has a taste for delectable food and fine wine, and he enjoys life from atop a perch in Martha's Vineyard, an exquisite mansion radiating across the Cape. The perfect life's thrown off balance after a tussle with a suicidal colleague leaves him impaled with an ancient Asante blade. He bleeds out. He dies. And then he wakes up, rejuvenated and hungry for blood. In a striking sequence, Hess discovers the body of his colleague bleeding out on the floor. He bends down and laps up the crimson liquid from its immaculate surroundings. Terrifying silliness.
When the deceased's wife, Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrahams), descends upon Hess' home looking for her hubby, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus transitions into a stage play of sorts — LaBute by way of Kubrick. Like the dagger that imbued him with a hunger for blood, Ganja thrusts herself into Hess' heart, erupting sexual tension and power player dynamics. At first, Hess tries to hide his addiction — quenching his thirst with stolen hospital blood pouches before preying on impoverished women in Brooklyn projects. When the secret's out, he asks Ganja to join him in his immortal feast. Her addictive personality can't resist.
Spike Lee takes a break from Hollywood to deliver Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, his most fiery film in a decade, at once hilarious, creepy, and thought-provoking.
- Matt Patches
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 18, 2019. Da Sweet Blood of Jesus takes the basic plot of Ganja & Hess, its concerns about addiction, racial identity, and religiosity, and shifts...
Jun 23, 2014 · Film Review: ‘Da Sweet Blood of Jesus’. Spike Lee's crowd-funded joint sinks its teeth into a seminal work of 1970s American independent cinema but comes up with an oddly bloodless...
Feb 13, 2015 · Spike Lee’s Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is the strangest movie he’s ever made. It may look on the surface like a no-budget doodle — Lee financed the film partly through Kickstarter and shot...
